I’ve been excited to complete a family history project close to my heart this week – it’s not often in family history we can say we’ve finished something, is it?
Some while ago I became interested in digital scrapbooking – the presentation of information in scrapbook format but compiled on a screen rather than physically with paper and glue.
My completed project is a blend of the two formats, in that it’s compiled digitally and then the file used to produce a physical book called, The Story of Mum & Dad. I created the file in a graphics program and uploaded my project to a photobook company’s software. They printed it for me to give copies to close members of my family.
1950s era
The book charts how my parents met, their lives prior to them becoming a couple and about their childhoods. I also included my own recollections of memories they shared with me.
Mum and Dad met in the mid-1950s, so I chose the background colours to reflect the era. I used a mix of photographs, documents and other associated images to illustrate the book.
My mum was a bit of a scrapbook enthusiast herself and she’d compiled a photo album about their honeymoon which included tickets and programmes from shows they’d seen, pennants they’d bought from places they’d visited and even the hotel bill! I used some of them on my pages about their wedding and honeymoon.
Childhood stories
My dad’s part of the book includes the story of his childhood accident and long stay in hospital, which I wrote about on this blog in my post, Flat on his back & plastered!. I also mention his life-long involvement in the Scouting movement.
Mum’s major childhood story was the time an incendiary bomb landed on their house during WWII, which I wrote about in the posts, Terror of WWII – was Jack to blame? and WWII bomb terror – my aunt’s story. I also wrote about her career, working with children.
The book finishes when Mum and Dad change from being just a couple to being a family, when me and my sister arrive. The last page shows their respective family trees.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed creating the book and I’m thinking now how to do a follow-up entitled, The Grandparents!
To find out about the Esme Quentin mystery books, click on the image below
